The Full Monty

On September 1, 2014, I officially resigned from the Federal Public Service in order to completely commit myself to pursue my passion in teaching.  When my 8 months of teacher education came to an end, I was presented with an opportunity to return to my previous position, on a temporary basis, that would have taken me to the end of the summer. 

As that start date approached, I felt more and more apprehensive and downright sad about the volunteer opportunities I would be missing out on at Hawthorne.  I wouldn't be doing soccer, track and field, badminton, graduation trips, or spending my weekly time in the classrooms.  As the date loomed large ahead of me, I made the decision to again fully commit myself to furthering my pursuit of a career in teaching by not returning to the government.  I haven't regretted that decision for one moment.

For the past several weeks, I have spent time driving students to soccer, being an assistant track and field coach, working with students one-on-one, continuing to teach history, and even helping in the design and technology shop.  And of course, I have spent lots of time in my beloved Community Cupboard.

My home away from home.

While we had to take a financial hit for me to do this, the pay off has been tremendous.  Aside from continuing to foster relationships with my students at Hawthorne (yes, I still consider them my students), I've also had the time to re-read some of the books that have had a great influence over me during the past several months, such as Damian Cooper's Talk About Assessment, and the Ministry of Education's document Growing Success.  I've also picked up a newly published book that I can see will shape my view of setting up my own classroom one day: Creating Thinking Classrooms by Garfield Gini-Newman and Roland Case (2015).  And to add to the icing on the cake, I have the time (between field trips and tournaments) to prepare for my first teaching interview! I feel extremely fortunate to have been granted an interview for OCDSB's OT list.  The last several years have all been leading to this interview experience.

Not that I'm feeling any pressure or anything.  ;)